


I was a brother once too. -Bill Cipher

by Aquamarine_fire



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Creative twist and explanation, F/M, Find out why Bill is evil, Flashbacks, Forgiveness, Friendship, Gen, Gravity Falls - Freeform, Memory Loss, Multi, Mystery, Other, Stars, You just have to read it to find out
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-07
Updated: 2018-03-07
Packaged: 2019-03-28 05:55:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,913
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13897719
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aquamarine_fire/pseuds/Aquamarine_fire
Summary: What happens when Bill starts to have flashbacks of his past and discovers that he was once human? With the same constellation birthmark on his head as Dipper, the twins realize that he and Bill had more in common then anyone could have guessed. As Dipper suffers from a surge of visions, memory gaps, and a new powerful energy inside him he has yet to control, they must race against the clock to stop Dipper from turning out like the triangle demon slumped before them.





	1. I was a Brother too

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everybody! I love Gravity Falls, and was wondering what it would be like to explore the characters pasts in an even more deeper and darker light. Mwuuhahaha. There is a lot of bonding between the characters too. You know what they say... SHARED TRAMA IS THE BEST TRAMA. 
> 
> I don't own Gravity Falls. (Obviously. This is a fanfiction site.)  
> Enjoy.

Dipper wiped his cold nose against his sleeve, stepping away from the spindley body on the floor.

Dipper looked down at Bill, finally, finally, trapped and dying beneath the molecular arrows pinning him down to the unforgiving dirt. “Well, well! Good game, Pine Tree! I gotta say, this is a little unsportsmanlike, haha! I never thought…” His head turned to the side and coughed, black blood splattering on his cheek. “That you would make it THIS far!” He sputtered in his crazed, buzzing voice. Dipper braced himself and tightened his grip on the arrow in his hand. He was preparing for a comeback, a round two, a struggle, something, but Bill seemed content to just lie there, staring at the forest's bright stars. This only chilled Dipper more. He didn't deserve to feel peaceful, to go so quietly like this.

“I can't believe I actually felt sorry for you.” He murmured darkly. “I suppose it's my own fault,” Bill mused, ignoring Dipper. “Being human is risky.” He looked down at the glowing fluorescent blue arrow tips protruding from his upper body. He laid his head back down. “I thought if I had a body…”   
“What? You’d what?” Dipper demanded.   
The demon grinned wide, displaying unnatural pointed teeth, and a soft, sardonic laugh began to echo from him  
“What are you?” Dipper cried. Bill responded with a small chuckle, which crescendoed to a hair-raising demonic laughter, resonating from his deathbed on the grass like an untuned violin. “Ahh haha HAHAHA HAHAHAHA!”   
Disgusted, Dipper turned and began to walk away. Good riddance. He thought.

There was a long stretch of silence, in which Dipper thought Bill had finally kicked the bucket when his synth-like voice suddenly pierced the silence. “I had a sister, once.” He said it like a revelation.  
Dipper turned back and looked at what once was a one-eyed triangular evil energy, now embodied as a young, dying humanoid. His cat-like glowing eyes still stared at the sky but were hazey like it wasn’t the stars that he was looking at.... Bill grinned again, but it looked more like a wince. “Butterfly.” He drew out the word with a distorted voice. “That’s what I called her. Haha…”

“What?” Dipper approached him cautiously as he drew in some of his last sporadic breaths.   
“The problem with bodies is that they always seem to fail you, huh? So delicate.” Bill droned sarcastically. He had a coughing fit in which inky blood fell on the dark grass beside him, a little splat landing on his forehead. “Then again, I haven’t felt this alive in eons!”  
“You had a sister? What do you mean? Are there more of you? Or is that just another lie?” He should just end him right now, this was taking longer than planned…  
“You and I are the same, ‘Dipper’.” It was the first time Bill had said his name, but he spat it like an insult. “And if you don’t watch out, you’ll end up just like me.”  
“I am nothing like you. I don’t destroy things and kill people, and try to take over the world!”

Bill tried weakly to lift his pinned arm. “Help a pal out and remove this little stick sticking out of my arm would you?” Where is everybody? Dipper thought.  
“And why would I do that?”  
“I need to show you something.”  
“Nope! Not falling for it!” Dipper got up and briskly strode away, he needed to alert the government people that the trap had worked and that Bill was here. The sooner he was out of their lives, the better.  
“Wait, Pine Tree-” Bill croaked, a new urgency reached his voice as he struggled to get words out.   
Dipper didn’t slow down, he was almost out of the clearing. Then the demon said something that chilled his blood. “Have the visions started yet?”  
A pause.

“How do you know about that?” His voice broke and he hated how young and squeaky he sounded. He clenched his fists.  
Silence.  
“Bill?”  
Dipper spun around. The dank grove in which Bill lay was motionless except for the faint humming of the fluorescent-blue weapons sticking out of him like weeds.  
Dipper ran over and slid to his knees, shaking Bill’s dirty head without thinking.  
“What do you know about the visions Bill?! Bill? Wake up!”   
Bill’s eyes flashed open. “Kidding!” Dipped startled and fell back on his heels. “Wow, you were really concerned there. How touching.”  
“What do you know about the visions?” Dipper asked in a controlled voice, he didn’t realize it, but his nails had started to draw specks of blood in his palms.  
“I was about to- *cough* tell you, when you so rudely walked away.” He was shaking and his breaths were sporadic.  
“Tell me!” Dipper demanded.  
Bill smiled wickedly and said nothing. Then Dipper grabbed the arrow protruding near his heart and twisted it, hard.  
“OW! Ah! STOP it, stop it!” He cried.  
“What do you know?”  
“Take the arrow out of my arm Stupid!”   
He looked at Bill suspiciously “Do you want to know or what, ‘Dipper’?” again with the name.

Dipper counted to ten before yanking the arrow out. Warning signals flared in Dipper’s mind as the wound immediately started to close.  
Bill drew his long fingers shakily to his head and pulled back the thick yellow bangs covering his face.   
On his forehead, was the distinct constellation of the Ursa Major- otherwise known as the Big Dipper, the same birthmark that resided on his own face as well as the source of his nickname.  
“Wh- What?” Dipper shook his head. “I don’t understand.”   
“You should get that on a t-shirt Pine Tree.”  
“Why do we have the same birthmark?   
“I hate to burst your little bubble, but it’s going to take a lot longer than the few precious moments I have left to explain why we’re twinsies, and ooooh,” He weakly singsonged, “The ever coming threat on you, your sister’s, and everyone-that-you-care-about’s lives.” Bill smiled expectantly, blood coloring his thin lips black.  
Dipper looked around at the ring of fir trees, any minute the feds would arrive and he would never know what was causing his visions.   
Bill tilted his head. “You hear that? Your government goons are...closing in.” He rasped. He gasped and sputtered on his own blood.

“Better decide...soon P-pine Tree.” The light in his eyes started to dim.  
Dipper heart was racing. They’ve worked so hard and risked so much to get Bill to the exact spot he was in now. Was Dipper seriously going to undo all that? Now? When they were so close to getting rid of him for good? But think of the knowledge. A voice inside him said, He’s hundreds of years old, he’s your best chance of figuring out how to stop the visions. He might be the only one who knows how.. And if he what he was saying was true... 

“How can I trust you?” Dipper asked, voice growing frantic as voices began to echo in the distance.  
“...I guess you’ll just have to take a leap of faith.” He replied dryly.


	2. A Leap of Faith

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I STILL DON'T KNOW HOW TO DO ITALICS OR BOLD ON THIS SITE  
> SO SORRY

Dipper was halfway through with ripping out the quantum-molecular arrows he and Uncle Ford had worked so hard on. With each one thinking: What am I doing? What am I doing? What am I doing?! 

He pulled out the last one, which happened to be below Bill’s heart, and Bill gasped like he had just surfaced from drowning. Turning to his side, he gasped for breath while clutching his chest. He spat out vile blood. “You and that smarty-pants Sixer…” He wiped his mouth on his torn coat sleeve and tried to flick off the dirt there.

Dipper nudged him with a foot, motioning for him to get up. Bill eyed the glowing weapon still clenched beneath Dipper’s white knuckles. “Unless you want a million of these back in you, I suggest you hurry up.” Bill brought up one knee and struggled to use it to stand up. “Don’t tell me you mass-produced those Pine Tree.” Every cell in his body felt like an old balloon, and his knees gave way, sending him back to the damp ground. “Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me.” Dipper complained, exasperated. He bent down and slung Bill’s arm around his shoulder, hoisting him up. 

“Hey lunatics! Check over here!” The gruff voice of Grunkle Stan echoed close by. This is an utter and complete betrayal, isn’t it? Dipper thought as he hurriedly half-carried, half-dragged Bill out of the clearing.   
“It’s not my fault your weapons work so well,” Bill remarked.  
“Shut up.” Dipper snapped fiercely.  
“I’m just saying-”  
Dipped used his free hand to stab Bill in the side with the remaining arrow. He choked and stumbled, but Dipper forced him to stand up. “To keep you quiet.” Dipper whispered in his ear. He was not the gullible tween he was three summers ago. “We are not friends.” he drew the now black-tipped arrow back out slowly, and thankfully, Bill remained silent.  
“Hey, Bozos! I think I heard something!” Grunkle stan was now in the clearing they were just in.

“Move.” Dipper ordered, hastily dragging Bill through the dense forest. He seemed to be able to carry more of his own weight now. Where were we even going? They were practically running, (well, Dipper ran and Bill tried not to trip as he was pulled along), and before he could register where, they found themselves looking at the Mystery Shack. The lights were off, everyone was on the search for the otherworldly being currently using him as a crutch. Hot Belgium waffles…

“Well, this is serendipitous.” Bill stated. As soon as they stopped running, his eyes rolled up and he fell face forward to the ground. Dipper didn’t even bother to catch him. Instead, he remembered almost too late the quantum-molecular wrist cuffs in his backpack. He quickly clamped them on Bill and locked them, placing the key in his pocket. He wasn’t sure how powerful Bill was in this human form, but with these on, at least he wouldn’t be able to use any of them. Theoretically.   
Flipping him over and grabbing him by surprisingly skinny ankles, he backpedaled, lugging him inside and up the stairs, not in the slightest bothered by his head bounced and hit the many steps. Using the neon pink bungee-cord Mabel made fun of him for buying, he tied Cipher to a chair, locked the door to their room, and waited.  
Now that he had Bill right in front of him, he decided to make some observations.

Slumped over, not really blonde, more...yellow hair. Surprisingly tall and skinny, not buff at all. You would think he would have chosen a different form… Sharp teeth, black blood, gold eyes that glow and get cat-like when angry. Other than that, and the fancy gold tailcoat he was wearing, he looked like a normal kid. Couldn’t be more than twenty. Of all forms…  
Suddenly, Bill murmured something in his sleep. “No, I don’t want..” The echoey quality in his voice was gone for some reason, and Dipper had never heard Bill sound so...human.

“Can’t stop it. I can’t stop it! Sorry.” he murmured. Well that was weird.  
Bang bang bang. “DIPPER! Are you in there?” Dipper almost fell out of his seat at the sound of Mable yelling. He had been so distracted he hadn’t noticed that they had came home. He could hear Grunkle Stan and Ford murmuring and walking downstairs, they wouldn’t come up here. But Mabel…  
“Dip, open the door!”  
He quickly unlocked it and stepped outside, closing the door behind him.  
“We couldn’t find Bill anywhere.” She said dejectedly, Ford thinks he somehow knew about the traps. “Did you find anything?” She asked.   
“No, I didn’t find anything. Guess he got away dang it.” He said loudly. “At least we have a huge supply of the arrows, we can keep him out of the falls with those.”  
“Yeah…” Maybe looked at the door he was blocking and his sweaty hands.   
“Well, I’ll be downstairs.” She said, turning around.

Dipper exhaled, opening up the door to go back inside. Time to find somewhere else to put him. Could I throw him out the window and go to the library? He thought. That place might as well be abandoned.

A huge bush of brown hair and a whiff of cotton candy blew past him, and suddenly Mabel was standing right in front of Bill. She inhaled loudly and opened her mouth- “Mabel, I can explain-”  
He covered her mouth before she could shout. She licked his hand. “Ewww! Mabel!”  
“You found Bill!?” She stepped towards the sleeping figure. “Why is he not dead? Where are the arrows?” She added more frantically. “Relax, I have plenty, and he can’t use his powers with the cuffs on.” Dipper stepped in front of her and put his hands up to calm her down.  
“We need to end him-”  
“I need him for now.”  
A beat.  
“What?”  
“You can’t tell anyone, he has information I need.” In a quieter voice, he added, “He knows what’s wrong with me, Mabel!”  
Her milk chocolate eyes searched his face, and she placed her hands on his shoulders. “There is nothing wrong with you Dipper! Whatever he told you is a lie!”  
“Mabel, look.” He marched over to Bill and lifted his slumped head, displaying his birthmark.

She was silent.   
“Don’t tell me this is a coincidence. He knew about my visions and-”  
“They’re just dreams Dipper! Everybody has scary dreams-”  
“Mabel! The other day I woke up soaking wet on Scuttlebutt Island with no idea of how I got there.”  
She paused.  
“You said you were following another mystery.”  
“I wasn’t. I-I just remember seeing this symbol, and the next thing I knew it was night and I was 10 miles from home-”  
“Okay.”  
Dipper stopped to breathe. “Okay?”  
“I believe you, that would explain why you’ve been so extra angsty and weird lately.”  
“Hey!” Dipper protested.  
But Mabel was standing in front of Bill now, peering at him.  
“It’s weird. He looks so...normal when he’s not a flying golden dorito.”  
“Who are you call’n...dorito?” 

Mabel yelped and jumped back, as Bill slowly lifted his head up like a creepy puppet.  
“Shooting Star! So great to see you.” He said happily. The resonating quality in his voice had returned.  
He looked down at his bindings and all around the room, completely unfazed. He was swinging his long legs and scuffing the wooden floor with pointed boots ike a bored child.  
“Bill.” Dipper picked up the arrow he had set down from his bed. The action was not missed. “Yeees?”   
“Start talking. Why, do we have the same birthmark?” He took a shaky breath. “What's wrong with me and how do I stop these visions?” He gestured with the glowing point he held.  
“Once I tell you, you'll kill me.” Bill replied. It wasn't a question.  
A beat.  
“Not if you answer all of my questions and leave Gravity Falls forever.”

Bill sighed. “You're lying. I understand, ya know, I really do. A guy as unpredictable and good-looking as me shouldn't be allowed to live. But I won't let you kill me, Mason. Not you or anyone else in this God-forsaken town.” Hearing Bill say his real, and almost secret name made both Dipper and Mabel sutter. “How-?” Dipper shook it off, “Let us? We don't need your permission, Bill. In case you hadn't noticed we have the power now. And every person and their grandma in this town is armed and will not hesitate to end you. You- you can't use your powers, so you're stuck in a human body, and all of the weaknesses that come along with it.” Dipper was hovering over Bill now, tilting his chair back and pressing the shaft of the arrow against his neck. It burned and hissed where it touched his skin, turning it charcoal back. “Dipper…” Mabel had never seen this side of him before. If he wasn’t wearing his signature hat and puffer vest, she wouldn't even had acknowledged it was him. She glanced at the door but stayed planted.

Bill's eyes were wide. Fear was an odd expression on him.  
“Wait wait wait! OWW! Wait! Please…” A tear ran down his cheek.  
Dipper brought his arm down in surprise. The Pines twins weren't sure if they had actually seen it, but there was now a clean stripe running down Bill’s dirty face.  
Bill took in a deep breath, his neck was already healing itself and the black quickly dispersed. “I'll tell you what I know.” He shot Dipper a scathing look. “Kill me when you’re done with me Mason, -I double-dog dare you to-,” He said calmly, “but before I kick the can, I need to know-"  
“Know what, Bill?” Mabel asked, hating how quietly she had spoken.  
He looked up at her.  
He looked weak.  
“You're brother is not the only one with visions."


	3. The Only One with Visions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1854  
> New York

“Gooood morning Mr. Jamison!” Fitz-William Cyrus the second santered down the somewhat crowded street of New York in his best outfit: A clean white button-down shirt, tan pants 3 inches too short, and a comically tall black top hat. He stopped twiddling his suspenders to salute to an old man with a huge mole on his chin. The man stood behind a scarce apple stand and fanned out a newspaper, smiling when he caught the boy’s eye.  
“Morning William! Nice hat!”  
William tipped it in reply.  
“Thanks! My sister found it.”  
He stopped and bought a scarlet apple. The man handed him too.  
“That one's for little Bianca now, don't you be eat’n it boy.” His blue eyes twinkled. William smiled, “Thanks.”   
“How's your father?”  
Williams smile faltered and he shrugged. “My father's my father. I had hoped that he'd be better after that talk Mr. Deary had with him…”  
“Hmm, well, you keep doing what you're doing boy, you're a good big brother.”  
“Thanks.” He smiled politely. “I really must be going now; don't want to be late for the job interview! Thanks for the apples!” He called as he trotted away down the dusty street.

*****  
“And tell me, Bill-" The interviewer droned.  
“I go by William.” William smiled.  
The interviewer peered lazily at his lanky frame through small glasses. “-William. Why do you want to go into bonds?”  
“So many reasons sir,” He began to speak with his hands, “it may not seem like it now, but I've been looking at different reports, newsletters, upcoming companies... and the stock market is soon to be the future of business. This system-"  
“Well, you obviously did your research,” He straightened some files and papers against his large belly. “How old are you son? 15? 16?”  
“-17 in a half. I turn 18 in August.”   
“Right…” he looked at the bright-eyed boy up and down, taking in his ridiculous top hat, and lack of overcoat.  
“You seem like a bright young man, willing to work hard-"  
“I am. Top in my class.”  
“Please don't interrupt me, son-"  
“Sorry.”   
The man looked over his notes dubiously.  
“Sorry,” William repeated.

“I can't give you the position you requested right away, but I can give make you one of our printer boys and we can see where it goes from there.”  
“Printer boys?” William echoed.  
“Is that a problem? Job opportunities are hard to come by these days-” He glanced at William's pants, they were stained with the kind of soot you only get from a chimney. “-as you should know.” William tried to banish the sinking feeling in his chest with optimism.  
“... I'll take it. You just earned yourself a valuable asset Sir, I promise, no, I vow-"  
The interviewer forced a smile. “Just get out of my office and be here come Monday.”  
“Yes, Sir.” William smiled and sped out the door. 

He got the Job! Well, kind of. He had to remind himself that Rome wasn't built in a day. He was confident he would wow the men there with his mathematic and strategic skills, come one year he was sure to have the position he wanted, if not better.   
“Everyone has to start somewhere.” He murmured to himself.  
That's when the first migraine hit.


	4. Fluffy-angst scene that I'm not sure where to put yet :P

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got chills writing this.  
> This is so out of order and random but I wanted to post it so here ya go. :)

“William,” the little girl tugged on the striped pant leg sticking out from under the covers.  
“William.” She repeated, insistent.  
“Hmmah…” He rolled over.  
“Will!”  
“Butterfly?” A pause, “Wha is it?” He sat up and blinked. “Is everything ok?”  
She started crying.  
William's eyes widened, “Hey, hey now.” He lifted her small frame onto his bed and she hugged him. “What’s wrong Fly? You’re worrying me.”  
“I had a scary dream.”  
“About what?”  
“The monster.”  
William sighed and stroked her back. “The monster again? Same one?” She nodded. “Can you draw me a picture of this goon?”   
She shook her head.  
“Please? It’ll help, I promise. I need to know what this monster looks like. So when I go into your dream, I’ll know who to vanquish with my sword.” He yawned. “Or- better yet- teach you how to vanquish him, Sir Butterfly.”   
She giggled through wet eyes, sniffling. “Okay.”   
“Here.” He lit the large candle by his bed and handed her his notebook and pen, careful to flip to a blank page.  
She took it from him, already making herself comfortable under his shaggy blanket, and drew.  
Oddly, it wasn’t anything like he expected. He failed to see how it was scary, but he nodded anyway and clicked his tongue knowingly.   
“A triangle with a top hat.” He noted stoically. “Terrifying...and it’s a pyramid because?”  
“Oh wait…” He squinted in the flickering light, “Is that the thing on the back of a dollar bill?”

“That’s his name...Bill.” She whispered. She looked up at her brother with an odd expression, searching his freckled face. “He scares me. He- he doesn’t know who I am,” She wrung her small fingers, “but he keeps coming to my dreams and just...stares at me. Like he wants something from me, and I don’t know-” She whimpered.  
“Shhh, shhh.” He pressed his hand against the top of her head and kissed her thick hair. “Next time you see him, imagine me instead, ok? Smiling and saluting because I love my brave, daring, cute, stinky sister-” She giggled and buried her face in his chest, “-and I am so proud of her. Ok Butterfly?”  
She sighed and used his arm as a pillow.   
“Ok Cipher.” She said sleepily.   
William blew out the candle and they fell asleep, feeling content and safe.

-Until his arm fell asleep and she kicked him in the face and he pushed her to the other side of the bed.  
But other than that, it was the best sleep they had had in a long time.

 

Future scene:  
“I can’t stop it! I can’t stop it, Angie! Get out of here!” AHHHH! I’m sorry...I’m sorry.” He was clutching his head and on his knees, crying and shaking like there was a mini earthquake inside of him. His birthmark glowed a bright gold from behind his dark bangs, and his hair and clothes were blown around by some kind of violent wind only he could feel. The last thing William saw before he vanished from the earth forever, was his open notebook spilled on the floor, and the drawing his little sister had made: a one-eyed pyramid.


End file.
